Washington baseball falls 6-4 to Michigan State in opener

The Washington Huskies fell behind early and were unable to dig themselves out of a hole in a 6-4 loss to the Michigan State Spartans on Friday night.

Coach Eddie Smith turned to his ace, Noah Kenney, who took the loss after working a career-high 8 1/3 innings and allowing 6 runs (5 earned) on 5 hits and 2 walks with 6 strikeouts, which dropped him to 4-4 on the year. He let up a pair of home runs in the contest, with designated hitter Noah Bright launching a two-run homer in the third, before Picot Parker got him for a solo shot in the fifth.

Kenney struggled with Parker all day long, as the right fielder went 3-for-4 with 2 runs batted in and 2 runs scored, including an RBI single in the ninth inning off of reliever Tommy Brandenberg, not long after Kenney was lifted.

After shortstop Sam DeCarlo hit his fifth home run of the year in the fifth inning, the Huskies tried to battle back in the seventh, scoring three runs, including two on a pair of bases-loaded walks, but failed to tie the score before Parker provided the insurance in the top of the ninth inning.

As the Spartans deployed five pitchers on the night, they had no answers for Ty Cowan at the plate, who went 3-for-4 with a walk, an RBI, and a run scored. However, it wasn't enough because Nolan Higgins was dominant over the final 2 1/3 innings, allowing just a hit with 5 strikeouts to earn his third win of the season.

With the loss, the Huskies dropped to 16-21 on the season and 7-9 against Big Ten opponents. The two teams will return to Husky Ballpark on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. PT for the second matchup in the three-game series.

This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Washington Huskies fall 6-4 to Michigan State in series opener